Musicians have long criticized the streaming service’s paltry payouts, but a new wave of boycotts is emerging

Musicians have long criticized the streaming service’s paltry payouts, but a new wave of boycotts is emerging

  • LumiNocta@lemmy.zipEnglish
    72·
    2 months ago

    The Big problem I have now is. I have a Vinyl collection, and I enjoy listening to music (many different things) whenever I feel like it. The Spotify app itself is just so nice. Integrates well with my car, and I have a few huge playlists. Much of this music I bought already physically. But if I were to switch to a different app I feel like I need to change alot more, and in the example of Bandcamp i would have to pay a large sum to get my playlist back up.

    Also. I have gotten so used to it and so tired of trying to do the right thing. I just want to listen to some music ffs.

    • BurgerBaron@piefed.socialEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      In my experience, buying vinyl on Bandcamp comes with the digital versions pretty often. Check your account’s purchase library.

      Edit: Looked it up. The default is this way, digital is bundled in with a vinyl purchase unless an Artist opts out.

  • jjjalljs@ttrpg.networkEnglish
    39·
    2 months ago

    I started buying music in 2015 (mostly Bandcamp) and I have no regrets. I have a big library now of drm free music. Some months I spend nothing and still enjoy music, without ads.

    • relianceschool@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      Yup. I’m old-school, I like owning my music. Streaming platforms are notorious for dropping artists due to licensing/royalty disputes, and artists also pull their music from platforms for various reasons as well. I love my Sony NW-50, it’s got room for thousands of tracks in lossless (FLAC) format, and you don’t need an internet connection to listen (great for road trips).

      It’s a different mindset; you can still have a huge library, but you get to know your music, since you’re not constantly getting random recommendations. I have a few albums that I’ve absolutely worn out, and it feels a little nostalgic in that way (anyone who grew up with CDs has that one album that you listened to 500 times in your car because you were too lazy to take it out).

  • stoy@lemmy.zipEnglish
    2·
    2 months ago

    I buy individual songs on iTunes, I can back them up without DRM to my NAS.

    I dislike the entire concept of renting my music.

    Since I started using an iPhone back in 2016, I have bought 781 songs, songs that I don’t have to pay to access.

  • IHeartBadCode@fedia.io
    81·
    2 months ago

    Streaming is all the bad things about the music industry but made a thousand times worse. The pay outs, the requirement of specific laws surrounding streaming that make it different than every other method of music delivery, the lack of control by the consumer, the lack of any kind of ownership, the requirement of always online connectivity, and on.

    I don’t want to be that boomer type person, but I’m pretty happy with staying with my CD and DVD collection that I have. I have a massive amount of portability, archiving, and it just works wherever I want to work. No fees, no internet required, and I have an immense amount of control over everything.

    This is just one of those things that I’m glad that I didn’t get into this. It has sounded terrible since it was first pitched and I think it’s only gotten worse.

  • BingBong@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    152·
    2 months ago

    I jumped ship about a year ago or whenever it was they signed on Joe Rogan. Now my policy is no subscriptions and only by DRM free. So mostly bandcamp and garage sale CDs for me. If there was a record shop within 70 miles I’d probably hit that up too but unfortunately not an option.

  • IninewCrow@lemmy.caEnglish
    191·
    2 months ago

    Yeah, I think I’ll be jumping ship soon … like most people mention … at one point you only listen to the same 100-200 tracks all the time anyway.

    • rumba@lemmy.zipEnglish
      6·
      2 months ago

      JackFM, runs a radio station 24x7, 365, on about 300 songs.

      The real trick is making playlists that repeat properly. You need a couple of bangers and then a bunch of supporting stuff that was good, but isn’t ear warm worthy, matching beats and genre then flow into the next selection set.

  • Valmond@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    2 months ago

    What are your thoughts about old music, should it be pirateable? I mean I don’t think those 1990 bands will get a cent from Spotify, or do they?

    It would be lovely sharing songs with fellow online people IMO.

  • oopsallnaps@piefed.caEnglish
    6·
    2 months ago

    Bought myself a little digital audio player (basically the new name for mp3 players) and have been enjoying porting rockbox to it / listening to my local library.

    There’s a still a few cd/record stores in town which is pretty awesome for second hand stuff.

  • boboliosisjones@feddit.nuEnglish
    17·
    2 months ago

    I want to jump ship it’s just daunting when the other platforms I try can’t match the library. I ported a small playlist to Qobuz and only a third of the tracks were available. I have an offline library but I have been lazy and its unmaintained.

    • Mihies@programming.devEnglish
      8·
      2 months ago

      Try Tidal. At least it pays artists more and has better sound quality. Allegedly. The downside is that their catalogue is more messed up like albums from different same named artists grouped together.

      • boboliosisjones@feddit.nuEnglish
        2·
        2 months ago

        Does Tidal offer trials or is there a way to explore the library without buying/ playing the music?

          • Hazmatastic@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            1 month ago

            To clarify, the import is through a 3rd party. I paid like 2 extra bucks to subscribe to them for the 1 month minimum, took a few more clicks to import my entire playlist library. Really easy and high-value for the effort it saved, easy to unsubscribe, it did what it said on the box. But it threw me off since it was unexpected.

            Also, about 95% of the library made it over, but a small percentage either aren’t on Tidal yet or didn’t have that exact version of a song with like 4 out there. A few songs got replaced by karaoke or covers as well, but they were few and far between. Just a heads up it can happen though. Just had to track them down and replace.

            But as a listener and user, my experience has been almost entirely unaffected otherwise. And I have relatively niche taste in music, so I was surprised. They have curated playlists to explore and expand my taste, almost identical playlist creation features to Spotify, lossless playback, lyrics, artist info/bio, etc. Recently added custom pictures for playlists like Spotify has. Do not regret the switch at all.

            EDIT: Not subscription, at least not anymore. One-time fee

        • Mihies@programming.devEnglish
          1·
          2 months ago

          Sorry, I have no idea, but I see there is a trial option, so I’d say yes to former at least.

  • CXORA@aussie.zoneEnglish
    15·
    2 months ago

    I cancelled my Spotify last night.

    Went through my favourites list and bought a bunch of tracks on bandcamp.

    Going back to my old ripped cds and mp3s is a nice feeling tbh.

  • ssillyssadass@lemmy.worldEnglish
    20·
    2 months ago

    I don’t mind sourcing my own music, but what I want is to be suggested songs based on what I listen to. My musical horizons have broadened a lot thanks to that.

    • bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      22·
      2 months ago

      Im sorry, but I dont get this. Why do we need to be baby sat and have an algorithm tell us what to listen to?

      Go to a record store. Get a couple unknown ones. Use internet radio. Surf bandcamp. Hell. Use YouTube if you want! I’ve never needed an algorithm to tell me about music. Its literally everywhere. Ask friend what they’ve been listening to. Be a human.

      This isnt directed only at you, i just keep seeing this sentiment of " but my spotify tells me what music to like! "And its a little sad.

      End of rant.

    • Khrux@ttrpg.networkEnglish
      13·
      2 months ago

      I can’t picture a service which beats Spotify in what they offer which isn’t just the same business model but more ethical.

      Discovering music for free is an enormous benefit, and the fact that Spotify has practically all mainstream music is nice. People often cite that one quote by Gabe Newell that is “Piracy is not an economic problem. It is a service problem”, as a highlight for steam, but largely Spotify offers what consumers want in a way Netflix or Audible can’t. They have everything you want and guide your discovery in even more, and as long as their encroaching enshittification doesn’t undercut this service, they will continue to underpay artists and fund immoral activities.

      The developer of Ultrakill, Hakita, said something which I’ve often thought about. “You should support indies if you can, but culture shouldn’t exist only for those who can afford it. ULTRAKILL wouldn’t exist if I hadn’t had easy access to movies, music and games growing up. If you don’t have money, you can support via word of mouth”. There are plenty of independent things I financially support, particularly things I attend in person in the city I live in. I may spend £100 per month paying for art and entertainment all said and done, and when that’s spent, I will pirate everything else.

      I split a Spotify family plan between 6 friends, I think that’s about £3.50 per month, and I pay for no other media services. With video, I run a jellyfin server with a “parent friendly” interface, so they can have “netflix with everything”, which I have at my place too. I don’t read that much any more, if it’s physical I just go to the library and if it’s an audiobook I’ll just pirate it. The benefit here is that even if I’m on a reading binge, that’s not even a book a week. With Spotify, I often pick something and play it via song radio, which is probably 50/50 music I know and new music. Sometimes I just stick albums on, but it’s not like that’s harder. If I had a locally hosted music repository that I’d “paid for”, I could enjoy albums, but not as easily have a radio like discovery experience.

      One day, a pirate tool may appear that rivals Spotify, but until that day, I can’t see myself moving away from it.

      Go to your local live music, drag shows, theatres, independent cinemas and libraries. Don’t feel obligated to pay for any internet service.

      • whotookkarl@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        2·
        2 months ago

        There used to be audio scrobbling programs I think they called it that would run on your computer to keep track of what you listened to and publish on a user page and also use the site to get recs, check out what your friends are listening to, etc. I think last.fm fucked up the official client or something but there were a couple open and universal scrobbler that might still work, but they do still only connect with last.fm I don’t think there’s a self host option.

  • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    2 months ago

    I used a free online service to rip my Spotify playlists to MP3s. Now what? (for Android)

    • dimjim@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      If you just want to play music locally without hassles, there are a slew of music apps that can do it for you, my personal favorite is Musicolet.

      If you wanna get fancy you could always spin up your own music server with navidrome, and combine that with the android app Symfonium (what i currently do). If you don’t like the idea of always streaming your music, for example if you have bad internet service outside your home, you can temporarily or permanently cache music to your phone.